Why I'm getting sick of Android and considering iPhone!

floggg

I've been a happy HTC Desire owner for about a year or so, and haven't really had any complaints. In fact, I've been championing android for the past while for its great features and customisation options, and persuaded my brother and sister to plum for Android over an iPhone.

I recently went ahead and bought an iPad. At the time, I know it was inferior to high end Android Tablets in terms of hardware options, connections, and customisation etc, but I figured for tablets at least content is king.

Tablets aren't something anybody really needs, especially if you have a computer already, but they are pretty fun content consumption devices. So, stands to reason that the tablet with the best content (in the form of apps etc) is the best choice, so I plummed for apple and the apple app store.

While i really appreciated the iPad's features and brilliant content, I was also aware of its restrictions (particularly the absence of flash and the way its tied to iTunes). As a result, I wasn't eager to switch to iPhone over Android, and have been looking forward to the Samsung Galaxy S2 release for the past few weeks for an upgrade.

Yesterday however, my outlook started to change.

I was feeling a little bit bored with my Desire (rooted, using LeeDroid) and decided to change to Cyanogenmod for a refresh. I flashed and installed without much of a hitch, which is one of the great virtues of Android I guess. I was happy enough with Cyanogenmod as a rom, though ultimately it doesn't differ terribly from the overall Android experience.

However, I've had a few issues with restoring my market links and data on apps, and managing memory and partitions etc to make everything fit again, which i still haven't resolved.

All these issues are leading me to miss the simplicity of the iPad and wish i had that on my phone. Yes, there are serious limitations to the iOS platform, but do you know what, everything just works! You plug it in, set it up once, and then everything seems to just work. The most complicated part is syncing with iTunes!

Yes, its missing flash and SD cards, and it can be a pain getting stuff on or off, but its clearly laid out, user friendly, intuitive.

Yes, there is little or no customisation options, but its easy to set up, configure, and there is no need to delve deep into menus, options, settings, etc.

Yes, you can't side load apps and apple are overly restrictive on what can or can't be offered in the appstore. But there is little or no malware apps, and while there may be just as much pointless duplicate apps in the app store, they are at least better hidden.

The UI is clean, crisp, clear and pretty. Android is often ugly. How many pretty android apps are there (excluding those that originated in iOS)?

The iTunes and App Stores are well laid out, clean, clear and easy to navigate.

The Android market on the other hand is just a mess. Finding apps is sheer pot luck at times. A search for anything brings up hundreds of useless and irrelevant apps. There is no reasonable filtering of apps to exclude the crap. While in theory Android's open policy for apps is great, the amount of junk that gets through is ridiculous. Again, I know there is a similar amount of crap in the apple app store, but it never gets in your way as much.

The apple store also has by far and away the best range of games etc. Excluding iOS ports, there are few truly great games on Android. The biggest games at the minute are all iPhone ports.

This time last year, I was ok with the fact that the Android market was comparatively underpopulated, because I thought it would quickly catch up given its popularity. However, while the number of apps has increased exponentially, there still isn't all that many great or killer apps out there, particularly games. And less still that are Android exclusive.

Where Android gets it right over iPhone is widgets, notification and the less restrictive approach to settings which allows the likes of locale and tasker.

I'm not sure how I would feel about losing widgets or the notification system, but right now, other than price (I'm on meteor now, so the prospect of moving to a much more expensive Vodafone for a subsidised but still expensive iPhone is not pretty), the main thing keeping me from moving is Locale/Tasker.

I take it for granted at this stage, but the joy of never having to change settings is not to be taken for granted.

But is that enough?

I'd be interested in anybody else's views, particularly people who moved from iPhone to Android.

PogMoThoin

Eh, Okay

iwo

Hi, excuse me my ignorance but what is your point ? If you are unhappy with android why don't you simply switch to iPhone?

Venom

If you're not happy with Android move to iOS. How will anyone posting here make things better for you?

floggg

I was hoping somebody who'd moved from iPhone to android could tell me whether I was making a mistake or not!

That, and having a bad day and needed to rant about something. These things at least normally generate an interesting debate.

osnola ibax

I know where you are coming from op.

kesey

You'd be making a mistake which would haunt you for the rest of your life.

srsly78

Why are you comparing custom roms on one platform with stock on another? Your problems seem to stem from the custom roms being incompatible with each other tbh, can't really blame android for that. Comparison to iphone jailbreaking would appear more fair, and that has it's own problems with instability and crashes etc.

iwo

floggg wrote: »

I was hoping somebody who'd moved from iPhone to android could tell me whether I was making a mistake or not!

That, and having a bad day and needed to rant about something. These things at least normally generate an interesting debate.

All you doing is trying to open another (geezus) debate iOS vs android? seriously....are you able to take more of this sh!t?
Again, possessing a phone isn't possessing a mortgage or something like that so just buy iphone..you get bored..go back to android.

PogMoThoin

Think about the future

iPhone = tied to one manufacturer
Android = choice

Off you go if you feel you're getting a better deal

iwo

iwo wrote: »

All you doing is trying to open another (geezus) debate iOS vs android? seriously....are you able to take more of this sh!t?
Again, possessing a phone isn't possessing a mortgage or something like that so just buy iphone..you get bored..go back to android.

congratulations... you started another iOS vs android topic :) as I said few minutes ago

tman

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Think about the future

iPhone = tied to one manufacturer
Android = choice

Off you go if you feel you're getting a better deal

Worse still, you're tied to iTunes!
I'm sure it's great if you own a mac, but the windows version is such a horrible bloated piece of crap...

RxQueen

I moved from I-phone to Android, I got a HTC desire Z..

meh if you could mix both phones you would have a pretty awesome phone.

camera is way better on my HTC phone. I personally prefer the apps on the I-phone, i find the search function a lot easier , and it had more to suit my needs. But i have the majority of what I want on my andriod.

Its all personal choice really at the end of the day.

If you dont like the i-phone, sell it and go back to Andriod.

floggg

RxQueen wrote: »

I moved from I-phone to Android, I got a HTC desire Z..

meh if you could mix both phones you would have a pretty awesome phone.

camera is way better on my HTC phone. I personally prefer the apps on the I-phone, i find the search function a lot easier , and it had more to suit my needs. But i have the majority of what I want on my andriod.

Its all personal choice really at the end of the day.

If you dont like the i-phone, sell it and go back to Andriod.

Thanks, thats helpful. I think the Android is the more capable platform, but I feel like the apps etc offer a better user experience on iPhone.

Personally, I like iTunes - yes it can be slow and annoying at times, but I like the features, control, etc. I've been using it to manage media
on my android for the last year or so anyway.

PogMoThoin

floggg wrote: »

Personally, I like iTunes - yes it can be slow and annoying at times, but I like the features, control, etc. I've been using it to manage media
on my android for the last year or so anyway.

Now thats just wrong, maybe you should go back to Apple. The beauty of Android is that you can drag and drop your music, not use a POS software like itunes.

TheIrishGrover

You missed the simplicity of your iphone? But if you weren't dicking around with custom roms you wouldn't have had the problems you were complaining about surely? So your problem with Android is that you have too many options? That you can do too much with it? Tell ya what, I've a Nokia 8210. No Flash, no SD card, you can't install sh!t on it. Yours for 649.99

seanybiker

If your not happy just change.

Khannie

Nice OP. Some reasonable points. I moved from iphone to android and I'd never go back. I'll tell you my reasons when I'm at a computer.

bd250110

I think the points the OP raises are legitimate. The user experience of Android is not as good as iOS, drag and drop is great, but can make finding things on the phone a bit of a challenge. Android market is a mess.

Personally, I think iOS jailbroken si the best of both worlds. I've gotten rid of Apple's woeful (and they are truly awful, intrusive) notifications. I've added SBSettings to have control over Bluetooth/Wifi/Airplane mode in a single swipe. I feel like I have the best of both worlds. Taken to the extreme it's not all that much different to a rooted Android device, custom ROM's excepted.

Honestly, I think it's down to the individual. I don't get the hype about Android, I honestly haven't seen how it is categorically"superior", as Im not into custom ROM's, but I do value media, which iOS handles beautifully. iOS has quite a few browsers that will convert flash video to HTML5, so the flash thing is a non-runner. Flash based ad's are something I can live without.

LukeS_

I've been using Android for a year ago and just decided to jump ship to iOS and an iPhone 4 about two weeks ago.

I completely agree on most, if not all, that I read in the first point. Nearly all of the bad points with iOS can be fixed with Jailbreaking. I find it really hard to actually compare the both of them on dev side. The devs of each platform work on on completely different things. iOS they work on fixing the things that iOS should of had to start off with like flash (yes it's possible through Cydia) while Android developers just are looking to cook up the fastest new ROM available. Both have good sides and bad. Devs on iOS look more towards cool little tweaks you could show your friends while on Android it's just about performance of the phone. I think that could be done to the vast amount of Android phones out there though.

Don't get me wrong Android has a ton of positives too that some people like. I felt like I was trying to force myself to like Android whereas with iOS I can actually play with it all day and not be bored. I'd write all the good points about Android but I'm writing this on my iPhone so I couldn't really be bothered.

I 110% agree on the apps, I found it such a ordeal just to go in to the Market find what I want and off I go. There would be apps that really shouldn't be cluttering up the search. The AppStore is so easier to navigate and to find new apps that may interest you. One thing I hate about Android too is the way the 'top' apps are rarely changing while on iOS there's like different apps in the 'Top 25' like every week. I also just felt like the apps on Android are of a poorer design to iOS. I'll occasionally go in to the AppStore looking for something and download a whole bunch of other apps while I'm there. (impulse buyer? )

Also I found that there's not many exclusive games to Android as to iOS and the iOS games to be of a much greater standard. I probably had around 5 games at most on any of my Android phones whereas with my iPhone I'm downloading more and more everyday. If you want to look for a great example of a iPhone game ported to Android look at 'Tap Tap Revenge 4'. There's hardly anything that's been changed for the Android version apposed to iOS.

The more I'm getting in to jailbreaking and installing some nice little homescreen tweaks etc. I'm loving it even more. I was considering swapping my iPhone 4 for a Nexus S but I doubt that anymore. iOS gives me what I want and gives it to me nice, clean and simplistic.

One thing that I think is way better just while I remember - the keyboard. Such a vital part of a mobile phone. Apple hit the nail on the head with it's keyboard. It's fast and has really good spell checking IMO. One positive about Android is all the choice of different keyboards but I've tried them all like SmartKey, Swype, Better keyboard etc. but I've never found one as good as the one on iOS.

Inquitus

floggg wrote: »

Thanks, thats helpful. I think the Android is the more capable platform, but I feel like the apps etc offer a better user experience on iPhone.

Personally, I like iTunes - yes it can be slow and annoying at times, but I like the features, control, etc. I've been using it to manage media
on my android for the last year or so anyway.

If you like iTunes you are a technotard, go back to iPhone and you will be a much happier bunny.

Paparazzo

Too many people get bogged down in android v iphone or pc v mac. Changing from one to another isn't like cheating on your wife.




but within 5 minutes using itunes you'll start to scream and throw it across the room

jimmycrackcorm

The simplicity of IOS is appealing in its own right for some people and I wouldn't denigrate that. My OH is thinking about getting a smartphone and I'd consider that an iPhone might suit her better as I'd get tortured with Where's my widget gone and so on.

At the end of the day IOS has had a head start on Android but Android is growing at a much faster pace with much more possibilities. IOS is going to find it difficult to change because there is a user expectation in how it should operate now that any advancements would alienate such a lot of existing customers.

MC_G

There's no doubt the iPhone is a good piece of hardware and that there are plenty of people happy with iOS and iTunes.

I, for one, am not of of them and could not imagine having to use them again.

Android Market is lacking in comparison generally and for tablets especially and I look forward to the day that it either catches up or content creators realise that it's much easier to produce cross device/os content.

Kev.

Main reason I dont have an IPhone anymore is due to costs..

Im on a Meteor plan that costs me 35 euro a month and its perfect,

When I had an IPhone it was costing me 80-90 euro a month,

I like Android but Kies is a piece of crap and so is the market

Also its a bit hard updating your software on a Mac....

Jackobyte

OP says he likes how ipad works out of the box, and he gives out about how much work is involved in flashing custom firmware on his droid. How about you just use your Droid out-of-the-box? It's not as if you have to flash custom roms.

And giving out about getting bored with android is stupid. If the versatility of android can't keep you amused, iOS has no hope.

My 2 cents

evolutionqy7

Jackobyte wrote: »

If the versatility of android can't keep you amused, iOS has no hope.

I think the opposite. iOS has the ability to amuse people through great apps. Something that Android strugles with. Theres some amount of ****e on in Android marketplace. Some apps are piss poor.

Though where android wins if you want to customise your user interface. And thats it.

mickoneill30

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

I think the opposite. iOS has the ability to amuse people through great apps. Something that Android strugles with. Theres some amount of ****e on in Android marketplace. Some apps are piss poor.

Though where android wins if you want to customise your user interface. And thats it.

For me other major winning points are no need for iTunes, widgets, removable storage and standard USB ports (although that's not IOSs fault). For me I'm not lacking any apps I need. Its great having a billion apps if you only need 30.

Its all personal though. The OS is a tool, not a way of life. If amusing apps is your thing I'm pretty sure all phone formats can fulfil that.

iknorr

Iv have considered an iphone also.
I have used both iphone4 and my HTC DesireHD. Both have flaws. i prefer the look and feel of my HD over the iphone ( and any currently available android phone).

When i used the iphone it felt like i was stepping back a few years with regards the GUI.
The iphone market is far superior. BUT it has a good headstart but with the rate of android phones being registered per day ( something like 300K) then i would expect decent

Im into rooting and custom roms but not while theres 18 monthsn warranty left on my HD. If i had my own iphone i wouldnt do that either. So for me theres no reason to bring custom roms or rooting into the discussion.

The 3 main differences that i rank highly are the market, widgets/home screens and syncing to a pc/cloud.

Iphone wins on market but android is catching up quickly.
Widgets/home screens. Android wins handsdown.
Syncing again android wins.

One other thing which hasnt influenced my decision but i use it to justify my decision is the price of an iphone over DesireHD. Is an iphoen really worth that much?

angel01

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

I think the opposite. iOS has the ability to amuse people through great apps. Something that Android strugles with. Theres some amount of ****e on in Android marketplace. Some apps are piss poor.

Though where android wins if you want to customise your user interface. And thats it.

What I love about android, is that you generally don't have to buy any apps, unlike the iphone or even windows marketplace

iwo

IPhone is mega boring, I can't imagine looking at phone and see the same layout ..also I cannot stand some people thinking that possessing an iPhone make them better than others, this arrogance is scary...also every time I ask iPhone owner why they think that iPhone is better they say....."yyyy It's iPhone man!" Some clowns think that spending 600 on this toy bring their status to upper level - crazy